Mark Teixeira

From Boston.com:

Still, the Yankees were intriguing. As Foxsports.com’s Ken Rosenthal so aptly put it in a column yesterday, the Yankees have the ability to really hurt the Red Sox by signing Teixeira because New York’s Plan B is Ramírez, and there’s no chance the Red Sox could entertain Plan B, thus leaving the Red Sox with an offense pretty much like the one that ended the season.

Which is why there was such a strong shift toward Boston as being the team that lands Teixeira. They almost can’t afford not to sign him.

First off, if the Red Sox don’t come off Henry’s stand of not giving a player 10 years, they could up the ante on the average annual salary, which is apparently what has happened. At 10 a.m. yesterday, one GM involved in the talks indicated that if the talks had ended right then, the Red Sox would land Teixeira. At 6 p.m., that same GM said, “I still think it’s the Red Sox.”

It was widely thought the Nationals were still trying to compete with the Red Sox and Angels last night, but could lose the battle on two fronts - as a team that lost 100 games a year ago and the fact they might not be able to keep up with Boston’s average annual offer to Teixeira.

The next 24 hours could provide some compelling drama.

Do the Red Sox keep their perceived lead in the Teixeira sweepstakes or does someone - the Yankees, Nationals, Angels - come by and trip them up at the 11th hour?

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